


Of Indignations and Cats

by eveshka



Series: Tales of the Dawn King [12]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-10-17 16:43:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10598052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eveshka/pseuds/eveshka
Summary: Noctis overheard. Prompto is unusally astute.For demishock's prompt





	

**Author's Note:**

> Rating: G  
> Warnings: None  
> Characters: Noctis Lucis Caelum, Ignis Scientia, Prompto Argentum  
> Time Period: Pre-Game  
> Location: Insomnia

"Heyas.... what's that face for?" Prompto almost hadn’t looked up as Noctis entered the classroom and dropped himself into his chair with all of the grace of a garula. When he did, however, the stunned expression on the prince’s face was worth question.

Noctis rubbed a hand over his face, trying to process what he’d heard, and failing. "A girl just hit on Iggy."

"DUDE. No way! What did he do?" Now, Prompto was leaned over his desk, blue eyes glittering with anticipation of a great story.

Noctis shrugged. "Drove away." He was still a bit stunned, sitting there and trying to come up with some reason that she’d have to excuse herself for being so forward. He wasn’t coming up with any.

Bright blue eyes blinked, and Prompto leaned just a little closer, dropping his voice. “Okay, gotta know. What did she say to him? I mean, usually he’s got a snappy comeback for everything.”

“She asked if he slept with me. And I guess he could have told her yes-mmmph!”

Hands slapped over Noctis’ mouth as the blond fairly leapt out of his desk to muffle his friend’s commentary. “Dude… ixnay on the leepsay. That’s like fodder for rumor!” Even though Prompto knew that Noctis could (and did) fall asleep literally anywhere, that wasn’t something that the rest of the class needed to know.

There were a few muffled objections from the now-muted prince, and after he managed to pry Prompto’s hands away from his face, he glowered at the other boy. “Your hands smell like onions.”

That made the blond flush a soft red and he scratched at the back of his neck for a moment. “Yeahhh… made a salad for lunch. Sorry.” He couldn’t always depend on Ignis sending Noctis with enough food for both of them, even if he did. Besides, he’d run an extra leg this morning and figured the extra greens would do some good.

“What, you’re tired of Ignis’ cooking? He’ll be crushed,” Noctis replied with a smirk. The look on his friend’s face told him that he wasn’t getting out of the earlier conversation quite so easily, but the teacher arrived and that put an end to things temporarily.

 

Lunchtime came all too soon, and while as Crown Prince, Noctis was entitled to a private area to eat, he didn’t often utilize it. Today, he opted to, with Prompto firmly in tow. His glare almost dared the staffer to object, but he closed the door and drew the shade over the window, looking to the blond with a sigh. “Go ahead and ask.”

“Nope,” Prompto dug his salad and his water bottle out of his bag, ignoring the catoblepas in the room. “If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s all good. Not my business who is up in your bed.”

A hand moved the covered bowl out from under Prompto’s nose, replacing it with a dish of far more welcome cold curry salad made by Ignis. “Cut it out; you weren’t made for the innocent bystander routine. He’s not in my bed any more than you are.”

And that was a kind of understandable statement, given that weekend nights of all-too-late-gaming frequently found them tangled in black sheets, but Prompto wasn’t going to give that any further meaning than it had. He dug into the bliss of the curry, and then after a few bites, looked up to see Noctis pushing his food around. “So what’s wrong, then?”

“Dunno. Well, no. I know. But I don’t _know_. You know?” A morsel of curry made its way halfway to the prince’s mouth before he lowered the utensil and pushed the food away.

“Uh, dude, pretty sure that didn’t make sense.” Prompto was good at translating Noctis’ oblique commentary, but this one completely evaded him. And while he noted that his friend wasn’t eating, he wasn’t about to say anything. Commenting on Noctis’ eating habits was a surefire way to make the other dig in his proverbial heels and not eat in the end.

There was a sigh, and then Noctis spoke. “Ignis. He spends so much time doing things for me that I doubt he has time for a relationship. And that… I feel guilty.” He sighed again, reaching out and tugging the curry back towards him and finally starting to eat, as if he’d felt guilty about the food sitting there uneaten as well.

Prompto ate for a few minutes, considering a reply, and then shrugged. “Maybe you should let him choose? Tell him that if he wants some time for himself, you can arrange for it? I mean, we’re in high school… it’s not like you can’t fend for yourself-“ his voice broke off at the expression his friend was making. “Okay, so maybe you can’t do your own laundry or cook. But you’ve got me. I can help. Laundry’s easy.”

“You set the chemlab on fire last year, Prompto. I’m not sure you’re the best candidate for cooking lessons,” Noctis retorted with a snort.

“Hey! Chemistry is nothing like cooking, dude. You can’t eat it when you’re done.”

“Ignis would argue that cooking is chemistry,” Noctis replied, “which is further proof that you really should leave cooking off of the ‘things Prompto wants to teach me’ list.” And then he was drifting into the darker headspace of earlier. “But beside that… what if…”

Prompto swallowed, took a drink of water, and lifted his gaze to Noctis. “What if what?” The catoblepas was back.

“What if…” Noctis’ voice fell to almost a whisper, and Prompto had to struggle to hear what he said. “What if he wants a relationship? With me?”

To his credit, Prompto didn’t say the first thing that came to his mind. Or the second. He put the bottle of water down carefully, took a measured mouthful of curry, chewed, swallowed, and then spoke. “What if he does? Wouldn’t be so bad, right? He’d never forget your birthday, and there would be no worry of unplanned pregnancy…” The stricken look Noctis was giving him nearly brought him to laughter, but he steadied his voice and shrugged. “I don’t see a problem with it.”

Deep blue eyes studied pale ones for a long time, as if getting a good reading of the thoughts behind the blond’s words. “That’s an unusually open-minded and rather adult viewpoint, Prompto. Wasn’t expecting that.”

“What can I say? I’m an unexpectable kind of guy. Besides, if you love someone, what does it matter? And there’s different kinds of love too, so stop getting all hung up and emo about it, okay?” Prompto shrugged. “Just because you love someone doesn’t mean it’s all physical.”

Noctis considered that for a long time, and when the bell rang to send students back to class, Prompto gathered up his stuff, thumped his friend on the arm, and hauled them off to class. That was love too, but Prompto figured Noctis had enough on his mind and didn’t point that out.

 

Later that afternoon, it was Ignis and Gladio both that met the boys, and Noctis came to a stop as Ignis opened the door for him, giving his advisor a long and searching look before getting in the car. At Ignis’ raised eyebrow, Prompto just shrugged and got in after Noctis without making a big deal of it. And that was love, too.


End file.
